Blackburn Fine Art: Recent Episodes
Tesia Blackburn
One of the great things about teaching is the people you get to interact with as a teacher. Here's a recent photo of one of my classes in Walnut Creek. This is the Tuesday night abstract painting group, with a couple of people missing. I have such a good time teaching! Thanks to all the folks out there who have been my students. I learn so much from all of you!
Recently, I visited a client in the Seattle/Bellevue area to see some of my work installed. Here's a short video of the artwork installed.
Thanks to everyone who visited the Webinar on Saturday February 21. I did a live, interactive webinar on Monoprint without a Press using Golden's slow drying acrylic, OPEN.
Here's the edited version of the live webinar. We had some audio problems but for the most part I'm happy with this first effort.
MONOPRINT WITHOUT A PRESS USING GOLDEN ACRYLICS "OPEN" PAINT.
Here's what Joe Coho (who attended "live") had to say: "I truly enjoyed your webinar. And I meant it when I said you did a great job, especially for a first try. The technical problems didn't keep your enthusiasm from coming across... And I could see what you were doing, too... More important to me was your enthusiasm for your subject. Living in the foothills outside of Yosemite in Mariposa, the chance to participate in a real class is a joy. So thank you for your work."
Thanks, Joe, for your feedback. I'd love to hear from anyone else who attended. It's really great to be able to reach people all over the world who are interested in attening a workshop "online"!
Look for more live webinars in the future. Be sure to visit my website and sign the guestbook to be kept up to date with upcoming webinars and classes.
When I'm under a tight deadline to get a painting finished, I sometimes don't have the luxury of making "mistakes". Mistakes are usually something I love! They bring about some very rewarding paintings. However, if I'm under the gun and have to produce, I can't afford to make a mistake. So I will make an acrylic skin on glass and lay it down over an area in a painting that I'm thinking about, just to see what it might look like. Especially, as in the most recent painting, when I'm working really large and changing a "mistake" would take a gallon of paint and half a day. So look below and you'll see three different skins I made to check for color against the painting that I had in progress.
Brush the paint out on glass or heavy duty black plastic. Let it dry and then you can peel it up and hold it over the area on the canvas that you are considering. Be sure to make the paint layer thick enough so that you can peel it up and it will hold together. Below I'm holding the dry paint skin over the painted canvas. Looks good!
Here's a studio shot of the finished piece.
I've just started my new podcast
Stay tuned for more podcasts and be sure to subscribe to stay up to date. I'll be sure the podcasts have lots of information and technical tricks to keep your creative juices flowing!
President Obama rocks my world. He's forward-looking and creative and now he's bringing those two attributes to bear on the White House Art Collection. With Michelle he is bringing new work to the White House, the likes of which have never been seen before. No more stuffy 19th century portraits for our 21st century President and his wife. Read the entire article here. (Thanks to Gordon Bruning for clueing me in to this article). Some of my very faves are now in the White House; Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Rauschenberg, and Louise Nevelson just for starters.
I am excited by this as is the rest of the art world. Finally! We abstract painters have a voice in the Highest Office. So now when you are asked "what do you paint?" You can say, "oh abstracts, just like the ones in the White House!"
Recently I gave a free online webinar on Digital Imagery and Acrylic Paint. Golden Artist Colors has made some fabulous new products to allow you to print on acrylic paint skins. Sound crazy? Yeah, watch the video and get back to me. Way cool fun! By the way, this video is nearly 30 minutes long so get a cup of coffee and sit back. It's like a free art lesson!
Here's a little technical trick to keep up your sleeve! Soft sculpture with acrylic paint, yeah! Check it out.
Recently I gave a free online webinar on Digital Imagery and Acrylic Paint. Golden Artist Colors has made some fabulous new products to allow you to print on acrylic paint skins. Sound crazy? Yeah, watch the video and get back to me. Way cool fun! By the way, this video is nearly 30 minutes long so get a cup of coffee and sit back. It's like a free art lesson!
Here's a couple from the new Italia Series, acrylic on paper.
I was inspired to name this series after listening to Chris Botti's CD "Italia". Check him out
How big a role does music play in your studio? For me it's huge. I listen to a wide variety of music and often work on a series based on a piece of music. I'm likely to have a Johnny Cash piece playing right after an aria by Placido Domingo.
Music truly does calm the savage beast, but it also wakes up my creative beast!
President Obama rocks my world. He's forward-looking and creative and now he's bringing those two attributes to bear on the White House Art Collection. With Michelle he is bringing new work to the White House, the likes of which have never been seen before. No more stuffy 19th century portraits for our 21st century President and his wife. Read the entire article here. (Thanks to Gordon Bruning for clueing me in to this article). Some of my very faves are now in the White House; Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Rauschenberg, and Louise Nevelson just for starters. I am excited by this as is the rest of the art world. Finally! We abstract painters have a voice in the Highest Office.
So now when you are asked "what do you paint?" You can say, "oh abstracts, just like the ones in the White House!"
Recently, I visited a client in the Seattle/Bellevue area to see some of my work installed. Here's a short video of the artwork installed.
I've just started my new podcast
Stay tuned for more podcasts and be sure to subscribe to stay up to date. I'll be sure the podcasts have lots of information and technical tricks to keep your creative juices flowing!
One of the great things about teaching is the people you get to interact with as a teacher. Here's a recent photo of one of my classes in Walnut Creek. This is the Tuesday night abstract painting group, with a couple of people missing. I have such a good time teaching! Thanks to all the folks out there who have been my students. I learn so much from all of you!
When I'm under a tight deadline to get a painting finished, I sometimes don't have the luxury of making "mistakes". Mistakes are usually something I love! They bring about some very rewarding paintings. However, if I'm under the gun and have to produce, I can't afford to make a mistake. So I will make an acrylic skin on glass and lay it down over an area in a painting that I'm thinking about, just to see what it might look like. Especially, as in the most recent painting, when I'm working really large and changing a "mistake" would take a gallon of paint and half a day. So look below and you'll see three different skins I made to check for color against the painting that I had in progress.
Brush the paint out on glass or heavy duty black plastic. Let it dry and then you can peel it up and hold it over the area on the canvas that you are considering. Be sure to make the paint layer thick enough so that you can peel it up and it will hold together. Below I'm holding the dry paint skin over the painted canvas. Looks good!
Here's a studio shot of the finished piece.
Thanks to everyone who visited the Webinar on Saturday February 21. I did a live, interactive webinar on Monoprint without a Press using Golden's slow drying acrylic, OPEN.
Here's the edited version of the live webinar. We had some audio problems but for the most part I'm happy with this first effort.
MONOPRINT WITHOUT A PRESS USING GOLDEN ACRYLICS "OPEN" PAINT.
Here's what Joe Coho (who attended "live") had to say: "I truly enjoyed your webinar. And I meant it when I said you did a great job, especially for a first try. The technical problems didn't keep your enthusiasm from coming across... And I could see what you were doing, too... More important to me was your enthusiasm for your subject. Living in the foothills outside of Yosemite in Mariposa, the chance to participate in a real class is a joy. So thank you for your work."
Thanks, Joe, for your feedback. I'd love to hear from anyone else who attended. It's really great to be able to reach people all over the world who are interested in attening a workshop "online"!
Look for more live webinars in the future. Be sure to visit my website and sign the guestbook to be kept up to date with upcoming webinars and classes.